by cartesius
NOTE: For a better understanding of this review, I recommend to visit the GeekList that I've created where I explain the aspects that I cover in my game reviews:
My 10 criteria for reviewing a game
Some other general points have been added to this review such Overall opinion.
Feel free to add your suggestions and/or comments!
I won't focus on explaining the rules since there are usually many good threads covering that.
1. STRATEGY
A Game of Thrones (from now on GoT) is a strategy game where players have a good number and type of actions to develop their plans. You can also play improved actions, which add more options and, therefore, more strategy. This variety of actions and the way they are planned secretly are my favorite ingredients in the game.
You can also develop your strategy in short, medium and long terms, focusing on some territories first and targeting others later on. This can also be extended to your aggressions and alliances, which are key in the game, as well as when to break them
Bids are other interesting elements (influence tracks, defending Westeros), as well as the possibility to choose the noble card in every confrontation.
Something that I don’t like in the game is the sea ruling situation: one player can get control of the sea and the rest of players can’t do anything to change it because they can’t build new ships. I think this has been fixed in the rules of the last expansions.
2. DEPTH
As you will read later in the Overall opinion, I think this is the weakest point of the game: you have many nice ingredients for developing your strategy but not deep enough.
Yes, your attacks, alliances and movements will have impact in the game, sure, but I can’t see high complexity on this, so at the end, the essence of the game is reduced to expand, attack and pray for the right event happens at the right moment.
3. PLAYER INTERACTION
In a kind of game like GoT, player interaction is implict. Negotiation and attacks are the juice of this game.
There isn’t any trading as there are no (typical) resources to deal for, although I wonder if trading with power chits in negotiations could be an interesting houserule…
4. REPLAYABILITY
I don’t think GoT is very replayable because of the reason that I mentioned before: despite the many options we have, the general approach looks too linear to me. If I compare GoT with Risk on this, I still prefer Risk: yes, its approach is even simpler (just kill!) but then I don’t have complex that slow down the game.
In favor of replayability, every house is different from another so it could be interesting to try every one out to feel the differences, although this has the risk to reach to the conclusion that some are unbalanced, as it’s my feeling.
There are also some expansions and this certainly helps to keep the game alive.
5. THEME INTEGRATION
Being a game based on a books series, this aspect can’t hardly ever fail. I haven’t read the books but have heard that the game is pretty well adapted.
Leaving the books adaption aside, the game fits very well with the theme: armies split in the board, you give them orders, conquer regions in the map, bids for power, events… they get me into the atmosphere.
6. LUCK FACTOR
A wargame without dice sounds like pretty low in luck factor (this means high on this rating). The reason of why the rating is not higher is because of the event cards. It can be frustrating when you are high in supplies but the adjustment of supplies event doesn’t come up. Same thing goes when you need to recruit. I think these events condition the strategy too much making the game a bit random, so sometimes some players are benefitted over other.
What I do like as a low-luck mechanism are bids: they are very psychological and let you play with the idea of you want it? you pay for it
7. ORIGINALITY
I don’t know many wargames with no dice, secret actions revealed simultaneously, and bids.
I find GoT pretty original and with a nice set of mechanisms that fit well.
And I bet this is the only game based on the books series
(sorry for the bad joke!)8. COMPONENTS QUALITY
Quite acceptable. The board is big enough as well as the cards, with good design. The winners of the influence tracks (Iron Throne, Steel Sword and Messenger Raven) get very nice cardboard tokens in their shapes. The game also comes with initial setup cards which I think they are not determinant but always useful.
I would have preferred miniatures for the armies rather than wooden abstract pieces but even so, they are pretty OK: knights, infants and ships are clearly identified.
9. RULES
I found the rulebook quite clear and easy to read, and I don’t think it’s a game that leaves many leaks for doubts, which is not uncommon in many wargames.
The game course is pretty straightforward and that helps.
What you need to watch out is for not exceeding the maximum army size allowed.
10. FUN FACTOR
I understand the main fun of wargames is slaughtering enemy armies. GoT gives a good chance for this. It’s not a massive killing game (as Risk) but war is essential and it is funny to see alliances breaking and that kind of political actions taken in a game like this.
You will like it if...
- You like wargames and don’t like the dice luck.
- You enjoy forging alliances and attacking enemies, as in Risk.
You won't like it if...
- You are more fan of eurogames.
- You don’t like asymmetric games.
OVERALL OPINION
When I played GoT for the first time I was very excited: Risk had been our “religion” in my group of gamers, so I when I discovered this kind of wargame without dice and with secret actions, I was gladly surprised.
However, this level of enthusiasm has been going down after every game. Not only because I’m skeptical with asymmetric games but mainly because I think the course of this game is quite predictable and doesn’t leave too much open: first turns you expand to your nearby regions to gain strength and supplies; then you make some alliances and attacks; if one house is clearly in a better position than others, it becomes the enemy to beat.
That said, it’s not a bad a game. It gathers nice mechanics but doesn’t hook me up.
Maybe I haven’t played enough games and I’ve become too much eurogamer, but I don’t feel like playing GoT very oftenly.
If you've liked this review, you can see my other reviews in My compendium of Reviews using 10 criteria.
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